Electrowelding apparatus



Feb. 22, 1944. O s, sc ETAL 2,342,594

ELECTROWELDING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet l QSAMESCH W T.PR/7'CHARD BV 9- 4acX MM ATTORNEY Filed Dec. 22, 1942 INVENm/QS' Feb. 22, 1944. O s, scH ETAL 2,342,594

ELECTROWELDING APPARATUS Filed D90. 22, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet Z u v r H m vw 8 Q Q 2 w av .wq WM mm 0. s. A. MESCH Z' WI PR/TCHARD %(ac% (M4524 ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 22, 1944 2,342,594 ELECTROWELDING APPARATUS Orwar S. A. Mesch, St. Albans, N. Y., and William T. Pritchard.

Belvidere. N. .L. assignors to Bell Telephone Laboratories, York. N. Y., a corporation Incorporated, New of New York Application December 22, 1942, Serial No. 469,781

(Cl. 21H) 3 Claims.

This invention relates to electrowelding apparatus and more particularly to electrowelding apparatus involving a hand tool for holding parts in engagement to be welded and applying welding current to the parts.

The apparatus provides means for quickly and accurately welding a small piece of contact metal to a support.

The invention is embodied in a pliers type welding tool constructed and arranged to hold a small piece of contact metal in required position for welding to a support.

A feature of the invention resides in the structure of an electrode in the pliers type tool.

Another feature resides in an insulating guard supported on one of the electrodes.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows the pliers type welding tool manually held in position relative to some closely spaced leaf spring type supports and in required position for welding a small piece of contact metal to one of the leaf spring type supports. A push button type switch shown as being also manually held is provided to close a welding circuit. The switch and the pliers type tool are electrically connected to welding current supply means housed in a carrying case which rests on a ladder or other means of support;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the pliers ty tool;

Fig.3isatop view of the tool showninFig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an end view of the tool shown in Fig. 2 and taken from the right of Fig. 2; V

Fig. 5 is a view, in section. taken on the line 5-! in Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged top view or the lower electrode of the tool shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is an cdie view, partly in section of the electrode shown in Fig. 6

Fig. 8 is a top plan view of the insulating guard;

Fig. 9 is a view in section of the guard shown inFig.8takenonthelinel-!;

Fig. .10 is a top view, partly in section, of a modification of the insulating guard; and

Figs. 11.12 and 13 are enlarged end, side and top views respectively of the piece of contact metal.

It is common practice to have in electrical switching devices a pile-up of conducting supports (insulated from each other) and to have on the conducting-supports 'small'pieces of contact metal through which the current may pass from one conducting support to another when the contacts are operated to a circuit closing position.

The pieces of contact metal become worn and in 55 effective in servic and require reconditioning or replacing. The conducting supports in many cases are leaf spring type members arranged in the form of a pile-up and the leaf spring members in the pile-up are quite near each other. Considerable diillculty has been experienced in trying to replace a worn or ineffectiv contact with a new piece of contact metal due to the rather close spacing of the conducting supports in the pile-up and the limited amount of space available for applyin a tool in fastening the new piece of contact metal in place. Because of these dimculties it is common practice to remove the entire switching device from its support, remove and separate the leaf springs in the pile-up and replace the leaf springs having the worn or ineffective contacts with new leaf spring equipped with new contacts. This is quite expensive because considerable labor is involved in dismantling the parts and reassembling the switching device and because it involves scrapping the whole leaf spring and replacing it with a new one. It also involves removal of the unit from service for a considerable time which is objectionable. The expense of maintaining a stock of all spring combinations for replacement purposes is almost prohibitive.

Our invention provides means for electrowelding a new piece of contact metal to a leaf spring type support in a pile-up of leaf springs without removing the switching device from its support and without requiring disassembling and reassembling the pile-up of leaf springs. It is obvious, therefore, that the invention provides a means for considerably reducing the cost of reconditioning the contact parts of electrical switching devices.

The welding apparatus as shown in Fig. 1 is made. portable so that it may be taken to the vicinity of a group of leaf spring type supports it which it will be understood may be pile-ups of leaf spring type supports in an electrical switching device supported on a frame l5. Certain parts of the welding apparatus are housed in a carrying case It equipped with a hinge-connected lid I1 and a carrying strap II. A source of current supply, not shown, is electrically connected to certain parts contained in the carrying cas it by means of an extension cord it. A manually controlled push button switch 20 electrically conhected to apparatus in the carrying cas It by means of an extension cord 2| is provided to control the application of welding current to electrodes in the pliers type welding tool 22. The welding tool 22 is supplied with welding current through the flexible insulated conductors II and 24 which extend from certain apparatus parts housed in the carrying case l8 and to handles of the welding tool 22.

The pliers type welding tool 22 shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 operates in a squeeze-to-open manner and comprises handles 25 and 28 of conducting material covered .with insulating sleeves 21 and 28 respectively. The handles 25 and 28 are tubes of conducting material electrically connected to Jaws 28 and 38, respectively, of conducting material, the handle 25 being closed at one end 3| and secured by means or a rivet 32 to the Jaw 28 and the handle 28 being assembled over a reduced inner end portion 33 of the Jaw 38 and secured thereto by means 01 a cross pin 34 extending transversely through the handle 28 and the reduced end portion 83 of the jaw 38. A cross-pin 35 extending transversely through the handle 25 and against the inner end of the rivet 32 helps to prevent loosening of the rivet 32.

The Jaw 28 is made in two parts and comprises a conducting part 38 and a block 31 of insulating material. The part 38 may be made of relatively thick band metal and is bent back in return bend form at its inner end to provide a U-shaped portion 38 which extend around a reduced inner end portion 38 of the block 31. A rivet 48 extends through the portion 38 of the conducting part 38 and through the reduced end portion 38 01 the block 31 to hold the parts together. The closed end of the U-shaped portion 38 is secured by means of the rivet 32 to the closed end 3| or the handle 25. To insure good electrical connection of the conducting part 38 and the handle 25, the U-shaped portion 38 of the conducting part 38 is solder-connected at 4| to the closed end 3| of the handle 25. The law 38 of conducting material is provided with spaced ears 42 and 43 which extend upwardly about a single ear 44 provided on the block 31. The ears 42, 43 and 44 are apertured to receive a bolt 45 which extends through the apertures in the cars 42, 43 and 44 to pivotally connect the jaws 28 and 38, the bolt 85 being equipped with a screw 48 and a washer 41 to retain the bolt in position. The ear 44 is diametrically drilled,and the drill hole is continued through a forward portion of the block 31 and through an overlying portion or the conducting part 38 to receive a rivet 48 which serves to secure a downwardly sloping portion 43 of the conducting part 38 to the nose portion 58 oi. the block 31, the head of the rivet 48 being located outside the conducting part 38 and the inner end of the rivet 48 being spun over as shown at in an enlarged portion of the drill hole 52. The block 31 is arcuately recessed on both sides directly above the ear 44 as shown at 53 to accommodate the upper ends of the cars 42 and 43 and it will be seen that when the handles 25 and 28 are squeezed toward each other the outer ends or the Jaws 28 and 38 will be opened to the position shown in Fig. 2, the jaws 28 and 38 pivoting on the bolt 45. A helical spring 54 is. provided to urge the outer ends of the jaws 28 and 38 toward a closed position, one end of the spring 54 being located in a recess 55 in the block 31 and engaging a washer 58 located in the upper end of the recess 55 and the other end of the spring 54 being located in a shouldered aperture 51 iormedin the jaw 38. The normal pressurE of the spring 54 may be adjusted by means oi! a screw 58 to obtain the proper pressure between the electrodes, the screw 58 being located in a tapped extension of the aperture 51, the upper end of the screw 58 bearing against a washer 58 drive pin 88 set in an aperture in the Jaw 38 and extending into engagement with the screw 58 is provided to hold the screw 58 in adjusted position. Since the insulating block 31 insulates the conducting part of jaw 28 from the conducting jaw 38 and one end of the spring 54 is located in the insulating block 31 there is no electrical connection between the jaws 28 and 38 at their pivotal point of connection and through the spring 54.

The forward end 8| 0! the jaw 28 and the forward end 82 or the Jaw 38 extend in parallel spaced relation when the handles 25 and 28 are in the position shown in Fig. 2. Each Jaw supports a relatively long electrode constructed and arranged so that the electrodes may be thrust along a leaf spr type support to receive the leai. spring type support between them. The electrode 83 is removably mounted on the forward end 82 of the Jaw 38 as shown in Fig. 2 and comprises as shown in Figs. 6 and 7 a rectangular body 84 reduced in width and thickness at its forward end portion as shown at 85. A plate 88 of high melting point metal is secured to the end portion and extends beyond the end portion 85. The plate 88 is made of good electrical conducting material and is so connected to the end portion 85 that current may readily pas from the body 84 to the plate 88. A simple and satisfactory manner of connecting the parts is to form a recess in the plate 88 to accommodate the end portion 85 and solder-connect the parts by means of silver solder as shown at 81 in Fig. 6. The electrode 83 is bifurcated at 88 having leg members 8988 defining an elongated opening 18 to accommodate a pin 1| and the shank portion 12 of a bolt 13, the pin 1| being fixedly mounted in the forward end 82 of the jaw 38 and the bolt 13 being located rearwardly of the pin 1|. The bolt 13 is equipped with a thumb nut 14 and the head 15 of the bolt 13 bears against shoulders 18-18 formed in the leg members 8888 along the elongated opening 18. The bolt 13 serves to clamp the electrode 83 to the forward end 82 of the jaw 38 and the pin 1| prevents pivoting of the electrode 83 on the bolt- 13.

A rectangular recess 11 is formed in the upper i'ace of the plate 88 as shown in Figs. 6 and 7 to provide a receptacle for the piece of contact metal 18 shown in Figs. 11, 12 and 13 and apertures 18, 88, 8| and 82 are formed in the plate 88 adjacent the upper and lower right corners of the recess 11 to receive a tab 83 extending aniularly from the body 84 of the piece or contact metal 18.

The welding tool 22 provides a means for welding the piece of contact metal 18 to a leaf spring type support 85 which as shown in Fig. 1 may be any one of agroup of leaf spring type sup- P rts |4 arranged in pile-ups and supported on a frame IS. The piece of contact metal 18 has a longitudinal ridge 88 on one face .to be placed against the left spring type support when the piece of contact metal is being welded to the leaf spring type support.

When the piece of contact metal 18 is to be welded to a leaf spring type support 85 the tab 83 is thrust into one of the apertures 18, 88, 8|

.or 82 in the plate 88, the aperture selected being in accordance with the position it is desired to have the piece of contact metal 18 take on the leaf spring type support. It will be seen by looking at Figs. 6, 7 and 12 that when the piece of contact metal 18 is placed in the recess 11 and so that the tab 88 extends into one of the apertures 18, 88, 8| and 82 the ridge 88 will be facing upward and may be brought into contact with a leaf spring typ support. The tab 88 normally extends at about a 45 degree angle from the plane of the body 84 and when thrust into one.

of the apertures in the plate 88 will have sufficient friction against the walls defining the aperture to hold the piece of contact metal 18 in a required position on the plate 88. If the tab 88 is placed in the aperture 18 or 82 the bod 84 of the piece of contact metal 18 will extend lengthwise of. the recess 11. The piece of contact metal 18. may be located crosswise of the recess 11 by placing the tab 88 in either the aperture 88 or the aperture II. The piece of contact metal 18 may therefore be selectively posltioned on the plate 88 and consequently selectively positioned on the leaf spring type support 88.

An electrode 81 is supported on the forward end 8| of the Jaw 28 by means of a substantially flat tubular member 88, one end of which is thrust over the forward end 8| of the law 28 and secured thereto by means of a bushing 88 extending through apertures in the tubular member 88 and through an aperture in the forward end 8| of the jaw 28, the bushing 88 being equipped with a holding screw 88 having a lockwasher 81. The outer end of the tubular member 88 is teleacoped over the inner end of the electrode 81 and is secured thereto by means of a machine screw 82 extending through an aperture in the tubular member 88 and into a tapped hole in the inner end of the electrode 81. The tubular member 88 is slidably fitted on the forward end portion 8| of the jaw 28 and is journaled on the bushin 88 so that the electrode 81 may be swung laterally of the forward end portion 8| to bring a contact point 88 on the outer end of the electrode 81 into registry with a. desired point on the piece of contact metal 18 supported on the plate 88.

The screw 88 maybe tightened in the bushing 88 to a, suiilcient extent to press the upper and lower walls of the tubular member 88 against the .84 when a relatively narrow and tapered leaf 9 8 e support is to be accommodated by the tool 22. In this case the upper wall of the guard is apertured at 88 to take the contour of the end of the narrow tapered leaf spring type support. It is obvious that guards having apertures of other forms than those shown in Figs. 8 and 10 may be provided to be on the tool 22.

To weld the piece of contact metal 18 to the leaf spring type support 88, the guard 84 is thrust over the plate 88 on the electrode 88, the handles of the tool 22 being manually squeezed toward each other to hold the jaws of the tool in an open position. The piece of contact metal 18 is placed in the required position in the recess 11 and so that the tab 88 extends into one of the apertures 18, 88, 81 and 82 and the ridge 88 extends upwarfly of the upper surface of the plate 86. The aperture selected to receive the tab 88 will depend on whether the contact to be formed by the piece of contact metal 18 is to be located in an upper or lower comer of the outer end of ;the leaf spring type support and the direction in which the contact should extend on the surface of the leaf spring type support. For instance, when the contact should be in the upper right corner of the leaf spring type support and should extend longitudinally of the leaf spring type support the tab 88 would be inserted in the aperture 88. The electrode 81 is then adjusted so that the contact point 88 is in registry with the piece of contact metal 18. With the electrodes 88 and 81 spaced apart as shown in Fig. 2 the tool 22 is applied to the leaf spring type support 85 as shown in Fig. 1 and so that the outer end of the leaf spring type support, upon which the contact is to be welded, extends into the space between the outer ends of the electrodes of the tool. Manual pressure on the handles of the tool is then slightly lessened to permit the contact point 88 to engage one face of the leaf spring type support 85, the opposite face being engaged by the piece of contact metal end of the support 85 rests in the aperture 88 in forward end 8| of the jaw 28 to hold the electrode 81 in adjusted position.

A tubular guard 84 of insulating material is telescoped over the plate 88 to prevent too far thrusting of the electrodes 88 and 81 along a leaf spring type support 88 and to position the leaf spring with respect to contact 18 on electrode 88 when the tool 22 is being moved to bring a piece of contact metal 18 to a required position on the leaf spring type support 88. The guard 84 also the guard 84 and further inward thrusting and up or down movements of the electrode portions of the tool 22 are prevented by the guard 84. The manual pressure on the handles of the tool 22 is then completely released to permit the preprevents the contact point 88 on the electrode 81 i from coming into engagement with the plate 88 when the handles of the tool 22 are manually re-'- leased. The guard 84 as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 is substantially a flat tube of insulating material shaped to fit snugly over the plate 88 and having walls somewhat thicker than the depth of the X contact point 88. The top wall 88 of the guard 84 is cut away on its forward end to provide an opening 88 contoured to receive an end portion of the leaf spring typ support 88. The form of guard 84 shown in Fig. 8 may be used when the forward end .of the leaf spring type support 88 is substandeternined spring pressure of spring 54 to exert its full pressure on the laws 28 and 88. when the tool 22 has been manually brought to the required position relative to the leaf spring type support 88 and the piece of contact metal 18 is bearing against one face of the leaf spring type support 85, the other face being engaged by the contact point 88 and the piece of contact metal 18 is at the required point for welding to the leaf spring type support 85, the push button type switch 28 is manually operated to switch on the welding current. With the welding current applied to the ridge 88 on the piece of contact metal 18 the same melts, and the pressure of the spring 84 forces the piece of contact metal 18 into more tlally wide. The shape of the aperture 88 in the guard 84 will depend on the shape of the free end of the leaf spring type support against which the tool 22 is being applied. In Fig. 10 is showna guard 81 which may be used in place of thes'uard,

type support 88. It will be understood that the strength and duration of the welding current may be manually or automatically controlled by means of suitable devices provided in the welding apparatusandthatthe welding current will be sumcient to cause the piece of contact metal 18 to be welded to the leaf spring type support 85.

-'.After welding of the parts has been accompllshed the handles of the tool 22 are manually squeezed toward each other until the plate 88 is moved a sufllcient distance from the piece of contact metal 18 to release the plate 86 from engagement with the tab 83. Under this condition the tool 22 may be manually withdrawn from the leaf spring type support 85 and the piece of contact metal 18 welded to the leaf spring type support 85. The tab 83 is later removed from the piece of contact metal by means of a pair of hand tweezers 99, the operator grasping the tab 83 with the tweezers 99 and rocking the tab 83 back and forth until the tab 83 breaks away from the body 84 of the piece of contact metal. This leaves the body 84 of the piece of contact metal 18 to serve as a contact point I on the leaf spring type support 85.

It will be seen by looking at Fig. 1 that the pliers type welding tool 22 may be used in welding pieces of contact metal to a plurality of relatively closely'spaced leaf spring type supports 85 supported on a frame I5 and that by reason of the construction of the tool 22 it is unnecessary to remove the leaf spring type supports 85 from the frame IE: to permit performance of the welding operation.

What is claimed is:

l. A pliers type welding tool suitable for welding a tab-equipped piece of metal to a leaf spring type support comprising a pair of pivotally connected jaws, means to operate said jaws, an electrode supported on each of said jaws, said electrodes being arranged to receive said leaf spring type support between them, a plate supported on one of said electrodes and said plate having formed therein a recess to receive said piece of metal and a plurality of spaced apertures to receive and hold the tab on said piece of metal so that said piece of metal may be releasably held in a selected position for welding to said leaf spring type support.

2. A pliers type welding tool suitable for welding a tab-equipped piece of metal to a leaf spring type support comprising a, pair of pivotally connected jaws, means to operate said jaws, a finger type electrode supported on one of said jaws, a

bar type electrode supported on the other of said Jaws, said electrodes being arranged to receive said leaf spring type support between them, a plate supported on said bar type electrode and formed to releasably hold said piece of metal in a required position for welding to said leaf spring type support, a tubular guard of insulating material telescoped over said plate and having formed therein an aperture to receive an end of said leaf spring type support and said guard oper-' ating to engage said leafspring type support and prevent too far thrusting of said electrodes along said leaf spring type support.

3. A pliers type welding tool suitable for weld:

ing a tab-equipped piece oi metal to a leaf spring type support comprising a pair of relatively-movable jaws pivotally connected and insulated from each other, means to operate said jaws toward a closed condition, a finger type electrode pivotally mounted on one of said jaws and operable for movement laterally of said jaws, means to hold said electrode in a required position, a bar type electrode supported on the other of said jaws, said electrodes being arranged to be thrust longitudinally along said leaf spring type support so that said leaf spring type support will be in parallel relation with and between said electrodes, a plate supported on an outer end of said bar type electrode, said plate having formed therein a recess to receive said piece of metal and a plurality of apertures to selectivel receive the tab on said piece of metal, a tubular guard of in sulating material supported on said plate and enclosing said plate, said guard. having an aperture formed therein of-such contour that it will receive an end portion of said leaf spring type support and said guard operating to limit the extent to which said electrodes may be thrust along said leaf spring type support when said piece of metal is brought by means of said electrodes into a clamped condition against said leaf spring type support.

ORWAR S. A. MESCH. WILLIAM 'I'. PRITCHARD. 

